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Sassy69
New member
Hi esteveze! Welcome to the boards! Visit often, ask lots, research lots, learn lots!
I agree w/ all of the above. It takes a little while to adjust to a different eating schedule. Often it takes a few days just to figure out how to plan & prepare your food and you may end up getting one of those soft-side small coolers & ice packs to carry stuff around. It also takes a little while to adjust to eating that often or not eating at other times. The general driver for that schedule is small amounts of food to fuel you throughout the day (e.g. protein is optimally processed every 2-3 hours). Also allow yourself one cheat day or meal, maybe it is most convenient for you on the weekend - so that you don't feel that you are depriving yourself when everyone else is going out for pizza, etc.
The purpose is to establish this stuff as a lifestyle, but it has to be one you can live w/ and not one that you have to "suffer with".
As far as the weights - do what you are comfortable with, but don't be afraid to try increasing the weights. The machines are a good place to start if you are not comfortable with free weights or not sure of your form. Form is VERY important so you dont' hurt yourself and also so that you work the right parts. For ex, you will often see some guy doing ridiculously heavy weights but jerking his whole body around trying to get the momentum up to do a barbell curl or something. This really does nothing as far as building biceps, but may actually cause him to develop some nice tendonitis somewhere. Slow & tight is better than fast & sloppy. Also once you become familiar with what exactly you are working with each movement, you can begin to use other pieces of equipment for more concentrated exercise or doing something a little different that will still provide good results.
Its all definintely a learning process, but make it an empowering learning process - not something that you feel you have to stick to strictly because the trainer told you to. (e.g. lifting light weights). Use your own common sense - e.g. if you can do 15 reps at a particular weight, go up. What's the point of being able to rip out 15 reps easily and going home? Always work to improve some part of your workout.
Good luck! We look forward to reading about your progress & your observations about the whole thing!
I agree w/ all of the above. It takes a little while to adjust to a different eating schedule. Often it takes a few days just to figure out how to plan & prepare your food and you may end up getting one of those soft-side small coolers & ice packs to carry stuff around. It also takes a little while to adjust to eating that often or not eating at other times. The general driver for that schedule is small amounts of food to fuel you throughout the day (e.g. protein is optimally processed every 2-3 hours). Also allow yourself one cheat day or meal, maybe it is most convenient for you on the weekend - so that you don't feel that you are depriving yourself when everyone else is going out for pizza, etc.
The purpose is to establish this stuff as a lifestyle, but it has to be one you can live w/ and not one that you have to "suffer with".
As far as the weights - do what you are comfortable with, but don't be afraid to try increasing the weights. The machines are a good place to start if you are not comfortable with free weights or not sure of your form. Form is VERY important so you dont' hurt yourself and also so that you work the right parts. For ex, you will often see some guy doing ridiculously heavy weights but jerking his whole body around trying to get the momentum up to do a barbell curl or something. This really does nothing as far as building biceps, but may actually cause him to develop some nice tendonitis somewhere. Slow & tight is better than fast & sloppy. Also once you become familiar with what exactly you are working with each movement, you can begin to use other pieces of equipment for more concentrated exercise or doing something a little different that will still provide good results.
Its all definintely a learning process, but make it an empowering learning process - not something that you feel you have to stick to strictly because the trainer told you to. (e.g. lifting light weights). Use your own common sense - e.g. if you can do 15 reps at a particular weight, go up. What's the point of being able to rip out 15 reps easily and going home? Always work to improve some part of your workout.
Good luck! We look forward to reading about your progress & your observations about the whole thing!
